SPORTING MINDSET
Photo by Zachary Keimig on Unsplash
There is a saying that is going around, “If you think you can, you will, if you think you can’t, you won’t.”
It is a very true statement because our beliefs are what dictate what our brain pays attention to.
So in short, if you think you will perform your best and do all in your power to do so, you may very well achieve your desired outcome. If you think you can’t and don’t do what you need to do to achieve your best, you won’t perform well, because you haven’t prepared your brain to achieve your best performance based on your belief that you can’t. It will stop working for you and doing the ‘extra’ champions know to do to be their best.
Our rowing teams are now heading into four weeks of Regattas culminating in the race in which they want to have their best performance, the Head of the River in mid-March.
I have been expressing to them the need to prepare their focus on their boat being at the front of the race. For example, when they are preparing their boats, instead of talking about the night before, talking about someone else, laughing at people, etc etc., how about concentrating on what they are doing in the present moment and working out how what they are doing is going to help them achieve their best performance.
For example,
- How does rigging the boat help them prepare for their perfect race?
- How does making sure everything is tight help them for their perfect race?
- How does my responsibility for my seat empower me to achieve the perfect race?
Everything we do for the two hours prior to our race, should be considered with this question in mind, “How is what I am doing, going to help me achieve my best performance?”. Through Network Neuroscience, we know that this is the best way to be optimally fit in our mindset and in the right brain network to achieve our best performance in our races.
Focus, focus, focus, is the key theme for this week.
Rev Grace
Sports Mindset Coach